Considering replacing 1995 Master Series HR215K1XSA with HRX217VYA - your thoughts?

PJS1

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  • / Considering replacing 1995 Master Series HR215K1XSA with HRX217VYA - your thoughts?
Hi, new to forum. Trouble deciding whether to replace 1995 Master Series HR215K1SXA (3 Spd. Gear, Aluminum deck) with a HRX217VYA (blade stop, select drive). Small lawn, about 1/4 acre flat. HR215 has worked problem free with no service over the years other than standard maintenance. Only issue is engine slows down and/or may stall out if grass is a bit tall or wet and then leaves a clump of grass; use mower in mulch position. Interestingly I paid $649 for the Master Series mower in 1995 which is the identical price the HRX217VYA is currently priced at.

Appreciate any thoughts. I'm looking for a trouble free experience with a new mower. Want to improve the engine slow down/stall out issue with current mower (perhaps its just a minor service issue if i decide to keep the old mower). The Leaf shredding and clip director features on the new mower sound appealing. The HRX217VYA is select drive and I'm thinking that is good enough vs the $80 upcharge to the HRX217HYA with hydrostatic transmission. With Master Series, I leave it at one speed and never change it.

Finally, should I try to sell the Master Series mower and any idea of reasonable value. Live in Philadelphia area. Thanks
 

apwillard1986

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  • / Considering replacing 1995 Master Series HR215K1XSA with HRX217VYA - your thoughts?
Welcome! You will definitely see increased power from the HRX. Some of the lawn crews around here use them as they have more power than the HRC.

As an HR215 owner I will say as nice as the HRX is you will be hard pressed to replace your Master Series. Cast deck with shaft driven trans powered by a GXV series engine. They are tough to beat.

They routinely sell in my location in good conduction in the 300.00 to 400.00 range. I have had offers on mine in that range from the neighbor's lawn service. If you have owned it from new and it's in good condition then it's worth something. The mulch plugs themselves sell for 60.00 to 80.00.
 

PJS1

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  • / Considering replacing 1995 Master Series HR215K1XSA with HRX217VYA - your thoughts?
Welcome! You will definitely see increased power from the HRX. Some of the lawn crews around here use them as they have more power than the HRC.

As an HR215 owner I will say as nice as the HRX is you will be hard pressed to replace your Master Series. Cast deck with shaft driven trans powered by a GXV series engine. They are tough to beat.

They routinely sell in my location in good conduction in the 300.00 to 400.00 range. I have had offers on mine in that range from the neighbor's lawn service. If you have owned it from new and it's in good condition then it's worth something. The mulch plugs themselves sell for 60.00 to 80.00.


Thank you. That's good news. I am the original owner and still have the barely used grass catch bag. Maybe it just needs some minor service and the issue with the engine struggling with tall grass can be overcome. Pretty much everything is original including the carb.
 

golfergordy

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  • / Considering replacing 1995 Master Series HR215K1XSA with HRX217VYA - your thoughts?
I have never mulched before, but I would think that grass that's a bit tall and wet would cause problems when mulching, so why don't you just pull out the mulch plug and use the bag under those difficult conditions. I just bought a used HR215 MASTERS and mowed grass that was a bit tall and wet with it a few days ago. I pulled out the mulch plug and installed the bag, and the mower produced the neatest cut I've ever seen with no signs of the engine bogging down. I even tried out the 3rd gear for a while, but I had to run to keep up with the mower, so I lowered it down to 2nd gear, but the mower cut great in all 3 gears. I suggest you install a new spark plug (of the type and mfr specified in the owners manual) to be sure an old or wrong type spark plug isn't causing an engine performance problem. 2-yrs ago I installed a new spark plug which I bought from ACE Hardare (their brand) in my Honda snowblower. 2-weeks later I obtained the correct spark plug and installed it, and the snowblower seemed to be running faster, so I got out my tach and checked the engine rpm with each spark plug, and I found that the correct plug gave 200 more rpm than the ACE plug.
 

PJS1

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  • / Considering replacing 1995 Master Series HR215K1XSA with HRX217VYA - your thoughts?
I have never mulched before, but I would think that grass that's a bit tall and wet would cause problems when mulching, so why don't you just pull out the mulch plug and use the bag under those difficult conditions. I just bought a used HR215 MASTERS and mowed grass that was a bit tall and wet with it a few days ago. I pulled out the mulch plug and installed the bag, and the mower produced the neatest cut I've ever seen with no signs of the engine bogging down. I even tried out the 3rd gear for a while, but I had to run to keep up with the mower, so I lowered it down to 2nd gear, but the mower cut great in all 3 gears. I suggest you install a new spark plug (of the type and mfr specified in the owners manual) to be sure an old or wrong type spark plug isn't causing an engine performance problem. 2-yrs ago I installed a new spark plug which I bought from ACE Hardare (their brand) in my Honda snowblower. 2-weeks later I obtained the correct spark plug and installed it, and the snowblower seemed to be running faster, so I got out my tach and checked the engine rpm with each spark plug, and I found that the correct plug gave 200 more rpm than the ACE plug.

Thank you. Congrats on your recently acquired HR215 and your spark plug experience. I decided once I was at the Honda dealer to bite the bullet and puchase a new HRX, the model with select drive and the blade control. It worked very well for its first mow using the 100% mulch position. It's going to take some getting used to controlling the select drive. They were big fans of Star Tron fuel stabilizer as opposed to Stabil or Sea Foam, so I'm going to give that a try.

At this point, I guess I will sell the Hr215 Master series. I was hoping the lawnmower store would be interested in a trade, but their primary interest is selling new equipment.
 

apwillard1986

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  • / Considering replacing 1995 Master Series HR215K1XSA with HRX217VYA - your thoughts?
Thank you. Congrats on your recently acquired HR215 and your spark plug experience. I decided once I was at the Honda dealer to bite the bullet and puchase a new HRX, the model with select drive and the blade control. It worked very well for its first mow using the 100% mulch position. It's going to take some getting used to controlling the select drive. They were big fans of Star Tron fuel stabilizer as opposed to Stabil or Sea Foam, so I'm going to give that a try.

At this point, I guess I will sell the Hr215 Master series. I was hoping the lawnmower store would be interested in a trade, but their primary interest is selling new equipment.

Congrats on the new machine! A thousand miles closer and I'd buy that HR215 off ya!
 
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